


Eddie Michaelson

by clearascountryair



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/M, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-26
Updated: 2016-09-26
Packaged: 2018-08-17 11:48:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,774
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8142679
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clearascountryair/pseuds/clearascountryair
Summary: When she was twenty-two years old, Jemma Simmons learned that Leo Fitz lying to her by omission hurt more than any direct lie anyone else could tell her.  But sometimes, such things are for the best.  [post 4x01]





	

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks @agentcalliope for editing!

SCI-OPS

 

She was sitting on the couch, waiting for him to come home.  She was going to be cool, collected.  Mature.  But when Fitz walked through the door and immediately asked, “Is everything alright, Jemma?” she lost all control and burst into tears.

“Jemma?”  He sat down beside her and tried to wrap an arm over her shoulder.  Childishly, she pushed him away, recoiling from his touch.

“ _You knew!_ ”

His face fell, confirming what had before only been a suspicion.  “Jemma…”

“I’ve been going around all week, making a  _complete and utter fool out of myself_!”

“You didn’t do anything, Jemma.”

She jumped up from the couch, tears streaming down her face.  “You could have told me!  I could have nipped this whole thing in the bud if you had just told me!”

“It’s a silly little rumor, Jemma.”

“Don’t.”

“It is!  It just a silly little rumor Eddie Michaelson started because you got the promotion he wanted.”

Jemma crossed her arms over her chest.  “Has anyone ever questioned whether or not you’re qualified for any position you’ve ever gotten?  Any mark?  Has anyone ever question if you’re actually as smart as you seem to be?”

“We’re twenty-two, Jemma, and the youngest Academy graduates ever.  We’re bound to be questioned sometimes.”

“No.  You get questioned.  And I get rumors that I’m sleeping with my boss.”  She choked out a sob and hugged herself.

She could almost hear Fitz contemplating if it was best to comfort her or to leave her be.  But then he stood, padded over the carpet towards her, and wrapped his arms tightly around her.  “I’m sorry.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“No one believed it.”

“Enough people did to spread it!”

“Just to say _something_.  No one genuinely believes that you’re sleeping with Dr. March.  And even the ones who do don’t think it has anything to do with your promotion.”

“So if you thought it was so minor, why didn’t you tell me?”

Fitz squeezed her tight.  “I didn’t want to upset you,” he said quietly.

She pulled back.  “I don’t give a damn about the rumor, Fitz.  But I don’t need you to try and protect me from it.”

She sighed, went into her room, and shut the door.

* * *

 THE PLAYGROUND (pt. I)

 

She shut her eyes and sighed.  “I can’t say no,” she said softly, opening her eyes and staring up at the ceiling.  “Special Advisor to the Director in Science and Technology.”

Fitz snorted.  “Is that what I’m going to have to call you from now on?  It’s a bit of a mouthful.”

“Well, we’ll think of something shorter.  An acronym or something.”

Fitz was silent for a moment, but then the bed trembled and she knew he was holding in his laughter.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“Fitz.”

“Well, if you did an acronym, you know what your title would be.”

“Enlighten me.”

“S.A.D.I.S.T.”

“Of course, it is.”

“It’s rather accurate, I think.”

She groaned and rolled towards him.  “What am I going to do about you?” she asked as he caught her around the waist and held her close.  She pressed her face into his neck.  “I’ll have to do a daily lie detector test.  Can you believe that?”

“Daily?”

She nodded against him.  “I think it will let me keep you all safe.  You’ll never be able to tell me if I’m succeeding, I guess, so I’ll never know, but I think I can help.  I think I can make him trust me.”

Fitz kissed the top of her head.  “I trust you,” he said, “to make the right decision.”

She shut her eyes again and breathed deeply.  In and out.  In and out.  “I trust you.”

“I thought that was a given.”

She rolled over so that she was fully on top of him and kissed his jaw.  “Do you remember at Sci-Ops, when Eddie Michaelson told everybody who would listen that I had only gotten promoted because I was sleeping around with the higher ups.”

She could feel Fitz stiffen beneath her.  “Um, yeah.  Yeah, I remember.”

“I was so incredibly angry with you,” she said, bringing up an hand to run her fingers through his hair.  “I thought that you not telling me about it as soon as you knew to be the worst possible thing you could do to me.”

He ran a hand up and down her back.  “I’m still sorry if it still hurts you,” he said, and she couldn’t help but laugh.

“I’m glad for it, actually,” she said.  She propped herself up on her forearms and dropped her forehead to rest against his.  “See,” she continued, dropping her voice to a whisper, “I understand now that you were only keeping it from me because you thought it was for the best.  You that that it would be...bad if I found out.”

“I never meant to hurt you--”

“ _Fitz!_ ”  She kissed him softly, gently pulling his lower lip between her own before resting her forehead upon his again.  “I need you to listen to me very closely.  I want you to know that I’m no longer angry at all _because_ I understand that sometimes it is what you have to do.  Do you understand?”

Fitz raised a hand and dragged his thumb over her cheek.  He nodded, and pulled her down to kiss deeply.

* * *

THE PLAYGROUND (pt. II)

 

Fitz had been tense since returning from Radcliffe’s.  However well he tried to hide it, she knew.  As he turned off the television and held out his arm for her to curl into him, she could see in his eyes that his mind was elsewhere.  

“What are you thinking about?”

For a moment, Fitz was silent.  And then, “Eddie Michaelson.”

“Eddie Michaelson?”

He snaked a hand around her waist, sliding it up under the back of her shirt, the palm of his hand warm against her skin.  “I did what I thought was for the best.  For you.”

She took a deep breath, the weight of his words washing over her.  “You made the right decision.  I trust you.  Always.”

For a moment, his body seemed almost to relax.  But as he squeezed her tightly against him, she could feel his body nearly trembling.  So she covered his face with feather-light kisses to tell him it would be okay.

But he was scared and she was, too.

They had known that this would happen eventually.  That he would need to do something and she would want to help, but the stupid, bloody lie detector would make her useless and helpless as the people she loved struggled to save each other.

But she covered his face with kisses that said _I miss you_ and _I trust you_ and _I love you_ , until eventually her head fell into the crook of his neck and his body relaxed under the weight of her love, and, at last, they fell asleep.

 

She woke in the morning at the first chime of her alarm and shut it off quickly so as not to wake Fitz.  But his eyes were open and he was staring at her with the same fear and love and sadness and confusion as he had the previous night.

“Go back to sleep,” she whispered.  “It’s only five.”

He shut his eyes and she went into the bathroom, slowly stripping out of her pajamas as the shower began to fill the room with steam.  No sooner had she stepped under the near scalding water than did the door creak open.

“Go back to sleep, Fitz,” she said with a yawn, wishing she could do the same.

But she heard the rustle of fabric and, a moment later, Fitz stepped into the shower with her.  Without a word, he pressed himself against her from behind, dropping his face onto her shoulder and pressing his lips against the small freckle where her shoulder sloped up into her neck.

Without a word, he sucked gently at her neck, and wrapped arm over her chest as the other lightly trailed its way down her abdomen.  She shut her eyes and leaned back into him, feeling the desperation of his touch not as desire for the intimacy they had lost time for, but as a plea for her love or her forgiveness.  

“Is it that bad?”

He said nothing, sliding his hand further down and slipping it between her thighs.  She suppressed a slight groan, though she wished she hadn’t needed to.

“Fitz.”  She turned in his arms, allowing him to kiss her, almost greedily, for a moment before she cupped his face in her hands.  “Fitz,” she repeated softly.

“I’m doing the best I can.”

“I know you are.”

He pressed his forehead against hers.  “Do you remember when Daisy changed?”  His voice was barely audible over the water.

She could feel her ribs constricting inside her, crushing her heart and her lungs, and it was all she could do to hold him close.

“I can’t promise I won’t be mad,” she said when she found her voice.  “But, Fitz, I promise you: there is nothing, _nothing_ you can do to make me stop loving you.”

He kissed her hard, backing her up against the shower wall, his fingers finding movement once more.

“Fitz!” She turned her head away from him.  “Fitz, you don’t need to--”

“I’m not,” he said, his voice rough.  “I just underestimated how much this stupid promotion would make me miss you.”

She smiled.  “I’m here,” she whispered, and kissed him, pressing down against his hand.  She closed her eyes and let her mouth fall open, his name warm and comforting as it climbed up her throat from deep within and spilled from her mouth into his own.

And as she stood there, supported more by his arms than her own legs, she trembled as much in the fear of what he hid from her as she did from the pleasure of him inside her.  When she came, it was with a quiet gasp of his name, quite nearly a sob, and her hands tangled in his hair.

“I’m scared,” he whispered when she opened her eyes to look at him.  “Not of losing you,” he added, when she opened her mouth to protest.  “I trust you, but...I don’t know how to do this without you.  I don’t want to.”

“I know,” she said, and then, for the first time since her promotion, “Fitz, I’m so afraid.”  She kissed his lips softly.  “Fitz, don’t do anything stupid.  Don’t be reckless.”

“I love you,” was all he said, and, for now, it would have to be enough.


End file.
